NOA Lithium Announces Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment Results for Rio Grande Project

BUENOS AIRES, AR / ACCESS Newswire / October 6, 2025 / NOA Lithium Brines Inc. (TSXV:NOAL)(Frankfurt:N7N) ("NOA" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the positive results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (the "PEA" or "Study") for the Company's Rio Grande project (the "Rio Grande Project" or "Project") in the Salta Province of Argentina. This PEA provides an independent economic assessment of the economic potential of the Project, based on the latest resource estimate filed by the Company in July 2024 (see the Company's news release dated July 10, 2024 for further details).

The Company engaged global engineering firm Hatch Limited ("Hatch") to complete the PEA. Hatch is experienced in lithium projects, including the execution of brine projects in Argentina.

Rio Grande Project PEA Highlights (all figures are in US Dollars unless otherwise noted)¹ :

The results of the Study are positive and demonstrate that the Rio Grande Project may have the potential to become a world class operation supported by exceptional brine concentrations and economics:

Strong Project Economics may result:

• Project production of up to 40,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of battery grade lithium carbonate (LCE), developed in two stages of 20,000 tpa each, using conventional evaporation ponds processing.

• Pre-tax net present value (NPV) at an 8% discount of $2.065 billion for a single 20,000 tpa operation. Post-tax NPV at an 8% discount of $1.276 billion for a single 20,000 tpa operation.

• Pre-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 27.3% for a 20,000 tpa operation. Post-tax IRR of 22.6% for a 20,000 tpa operation.

• Project payback period of 3.3 years pre-tax and 3.4 years after tax from initial production.

• Average annual life-of-mine (LOM) earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $317 million for a 20,000 tpa operation.

• Project production mine life of 30 years.

• Nameplate capacity operating expenses (OPEX) at full 20,000 tpa production including product transportation but excluding royalties and taxes is estimated at $5,897 per tonne LCE.

• Average LOM OPEX including product transportation but excluding royalties and taxes is estimated at $6,012 per tonne LCE.

• Initial capital expenditures (CAPEX) estimated at $706.2 million for 20,000 tpa operation.

• Project economics are based on a long-term battery grade lithium carbonate price assumption of $24,000 per tonne.

Expansion of 20,000 tpa to a total of 40,000 tpa may lead to robust Project economics:

• The expansion of an additional 20,000 tpa increases the entire pre-tax project NPV at an 8% discount to $3.776 billion for an incremental capital cost investment of $639.7 million, and apost-tax NPV at an 8% discount at $2.341 billion.

• Pre-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 28.1% for 40,000 tpa production. Post-tax IRR of 23.3%.

• Average annual EBITDA of $613 million for 40,000 tpa production.

• Nameplate capacity OPEX at full 40,000 tpa capacity including product transportation but excluding royalties and taxes estimated at $5,552 per tonne LCE.

• Average LOM OPEX including product transportation but excluding royalties and taxes estimated at $5,692 per tonne LCE for 40,000 tpa operation.

Lower Technical Risk Development is expected:

• The Study evaluates a conventional evaporation pond process, which is currently used by several producers in the same region, thereby minimizing the development risk.

• Brine chemistry and concentration of lithium above 520 milligrams per litre (mg/l) support the use of proven technology while preserving flexibility to evaluate alternative flowsheets in subsequent study phases.

• Staged development: Phase 2 (second 20,000 tpa) construction is expected to commence after Phase 1 (first 20,000 tpa) achieves initial commercial production. This approach reduces execution and ramp-up risk, optimizes capital allocation by deferring part of CAPEX to cash-flow and preserves optionality to integrate process improvements between phases.

Project Production Optionality:

• The Company also evaluated, at a high level, an alternative for the development of the Project for production of lithium chloride instead of lithium carbonate. This alternative could potentially reduce initial CAPEX and delivery of product (time-to-market), as well as reduce the development risk of the Project. This option may be examined in more detail in a subsequent pre-feasibility study (PFS) phase. A preliminary assessment of this alternative for a single 20,000 tpa LCE-equivalent case, indicates a CAPEX reduction of 30-35% below the base case and OPEX of 35-40% below the base case.

Potential for Upside Opportunities:

• While the Project may be eligible for Argentina's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), the timing and applicability remain uncertain. The PEA base case excludes RIGI benefits, and any potential upside is presented for illustrative purposes only. The RIGI is a regime created by national law in Argentina that grants tax stability and incentives in taxes, among others things, that may have material impacts if granted, on the Projects economics. Assuming acceptance of RIGI's on the Project, this may have the following impacts:

  • Pre-Tax NPV (20,000 tpa): $2.220 billion

  • Pre-Tax IRR (20,000 tpa): 28.1%

  • After-Tax NPV (20,000 tpa): $1.621 billion

  • After-Tax IRR (20,000 tpa): 24.8%
    
    For the expansion to 40,000 tpa the results would be:

  • Pre-Tax NPV (40,000 tpa): $4.078 billion

  • Pre-Tax IRR (40,000 tpa): 29.1%

  • After-Tax NPV (40,000 tpa): $2.987 billion

  • After-Tax IRR (40,000 tpa): 25.8%

• Direct lithium extraction (DLE) methods will be evaluated and tested during the PFS phase and may further improve recoveries and production, which may positively impact the Project's economics.

• The PEA evaluates execution of the full flowsheet at site. During the PFS phase, the Company will assess producing lithium chloride at site with a downstream carbonate plant in Güemes, Salta, which may potentially lower construction and operating costs for the Project.

• There is broad industry consensus that lithium demand is expected to remain strong, with demand anticipated to outpace supply, potentially leading to higher prices and a potential supply deficit in the coming years.

• The Rio Grande Project remains one of the few undeveloped projects with average lithium concentrations above 520 mg/l with approximately 2.66 million tonnes of LCE in the Measured + Indicated resource categories and approximately 2.04 million tonnes in the Inferred category from the Company's resources estimate filed in July 2024.

NOA's Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Rubacha states: "The results of this PEA validate our confidence in the potential of the Rio Grande Project. They confirm that the Project can become a high margin, world class operation supporting global lithium demand in the coming years. We have covered a lot of ground in a very short period of time to take the Project to this stage. Our next milestone is to take Rio Grande to feasibility and then production in the shortest possible time period".

Economic Analysis of the Project

Initial Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) - 2025 Q3 basis

Total estimated initial capital costs for the Project are $706.2 million for Phase 1 (20,000 tpa) of LCE product. Contingency costs for the Project are estimated at 30% of direct and indirect costs. CAPEX for the Project includes the initial investment for a lithium carbonate chemicals plant using evaporation ponds processing with an estimated annual production of 20,000 tpa.

An additional $639.7 million for Phase 2 (additional 20,000 tpa) of the Project for total initial capital cost of $1.346 billion for a total of 40,000 tpa of LCE product was estimated for this option, considering the same contingency and assumptions as Phase 1. See the tables below which show a summary of the initial CAPEX costs for the Projects Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Summary of Initial CAPEX - 20,000 tpa (Phase 1)

Summary of Initial CAPEX - 40,000 tpa Expansion including initial CAPEX for 20,000 tpa above (Phase 2)

Operating Cost (OPEX) of Project

Total estimated annual operating costs for Phase 1 of the Project are $117.9 million. The main operating costs for the Project are reagents accounting for 51% of the total operating costs, labour accounting for 16% of the total operating costs, and energy accounting for 12% of the total operating costs.

Summary of OPEX - 20,000 tpa (Phase 1)

Summary of OPEX -40,000 tpa Expansion (Phase 2)

Economic Analysis and Summary of the Project

The economic evaluation of the Project in the PEA was performed assuming an 8% discount rate. Cash flows were modelled with a final investment decision estimated to be in 2027 and construction initiating in 2028. The resulting economics of the Project are as follows:

Base Case - 20,000 tpa Project (Phase 1)